


footsteps

by FancifulRivers



Series: warmth [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, Magical Dudley Dursley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 17:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13275930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FancifulRivers/pseuds/FancifulRivers
Summary: Harry doesn't need glasses to know when someone's following him.





	footsteps

Someone was following them.

Harry didn't know how he knew. He'd looked behind him multiple times (very quickly, or at random moments, too!) and seen nobody, but-

There had been an odd shimmer in the air for a second. And he thought he heard footsteps at least once. A good, solid tread, too, like someone wearing decent boots.

Why would someone follow him and his cousin, though? He pondered this as he walked home, grocery bag idly swinging from his arm. Aunt Petunia had sent them both out of the house, nominally to get groceries (but mostly because she had a migraine and didn't want to deal with either the freak or her own child, freak number two). She'd even given Dudley some extra money to buy himself some sweets, which hadn't happened in ages, and Dudley was ecstatic. It wasn't just the prospect of sweets that excited him, Harry knew. It was that his mother had given him something. Showed that maybe she still cared, even if her son was a freak.

And Dudley had been nice enough to buy a chocolate bar for Harry, too, which he was  _greatly_ enjoying (or trying to) as he walked home. He knew he had to finish it before they reached home, or his aunt would be angry. She didn't think he deserved nice things like chocolates. Dudley was all right if he didn't finish, as long as he didn't make a mess, but Harry was another story.

So Harry found it greatly unfair that instead of getting to focus on how nice his chocolate tasted, he had to worry about the mysterious person following them and whether or not they meant any harm. Aunt Petunia had given them both the warnings about strangers and what they wanted from you. He knew not to take candy from people, not to get in someone's car, not to look for any lost puppy. He knew to stay several inches away from people, so it was harder for them to grab him. 

She'd never mentioned how to deal with someone  _invisible_ before.

Harry looked up and saw a corner coming up. Not just any corner, but the corner that was surrounded by good, thick, hefty brambles and bushes. They were a bit of an anomaly in Little Whinging, even as meticulously kept as they were, but right now, he blessed them.

"Hey, Dudley," he said, deliberately keeping his voice casual. His unsuspecting cousin looked up from his lolly.

"What?" He asked.

"Race you to the corner," Harry said, and bolted. He could hear his cousin behind him, feet slapping against the ground. As soon as he dodged around the corner, he waited for Dudley, then yanked them both through the bushes into someone's front yard.

"Wha-" Dudley started to ask, but Harry shook his head, clamping his hand over Dudley's sticky mouth. He calmed his breathing as best as he could, crouching down into the grass.

He could hear footsteps again, loud and rushed and impatient. But when he peeked through the leaves, he saw no one. Fear trickled down his spine like a melting icicle. 

" _Damn_ that boy," he heard the invisible person say in a low voice. "He  _would_ do this-"

Harry didn't know if it was bravery or stupidity that made him stand up. He thought it was probably both.

"Do what?" He asked loudly, fists clenched at his sides, crinkling the grocery bag. There was a loud intake of air, probably through clenched teeth, and then a man just...faded into view. Harry's mouth dropped open. One minute he didn't exist, the next minute-

He was a tall man with sallow skin, a hooked nose, greasy black hair, and a dark stare that looked like Aunt Petunia's worst day ever multiplied by a thousand.

"Harry Potter," the man said, and Harry backed up a step. He could feel his heart thudding in his chest. Next to him, Dudley looked petrified, lolly totally forgotten.

"You were following us," Harry accused. The man sneered.

"Of course I was," he said. "I was- assigned to. You weren't supposed to notice."

"Well, I did," Harry said. His hands wouldn't stop trembling.

"Go home," the man said, looking tired. "I've seen enough."

"Of what?" Harry asked, but the man shook his head.

"You'll know soon enough," he said. "I'm Severus Snape. You'll see me again."

Then he turned sharply on his heel and disappeared before Harry's and Dudley's shocked eyes.

"That was weird," Dudley proclaimed. Shakily, Harry nodded in agreement.


End file.
